A question about Damascus steel

Recently I did some woodworking for a guy, and I did it for free, but he insisted on giving me a knife with a Damascus steel blade. I admire the look of that type blade, but have never used one for deer and hog skinning. Will it hold an edge as well as other ‘common’ steels?

You ask a very good question and one I don't have a direct answer to. However, two factors come to mind -

1. Every steel has an optimal heat treat process that involves specific temperatures, soak times, quench temperature, type of quenchant and temper down temperatures.

2. I don't know how you can heat treat different types of steel in a single blade and adhere to the optimal heat treat process for each type of steel simultaneously.

If heat treat is steel specific, I don't think it's possible to heat treat different steels to their optimum simultaneously as in the case of all Damascus steels.

Great answer and I'd also like to interject depends on the specific knife maker. I know some new knife makers that don't have a clue how to get the optimum performance from any material much less Damascus. A lot of Damascus comes from India and Pakistan made from inferior metals without knowing who made it or where it came from all I can suggest is sharpen it and give it a shot. You don't have anything to lose just take a back up knife. Who knows it might just be the best darn knife you've ever owned.

Well, truth be known...I really didn’t need another knife for skinning. Still, it was a nice gift that I’ll probably never use. But since it was Damascus type Steel, I wanted input from you guys.

Like a lot of the guys, I love knives. Don’t know why. And I have a drawer full of fixed and folders that didn’t have good enough steel to stay in the starting lineup. My number one skinner is an old Browning 3 blade skinner (saw, gut hook, and blade) that I got as a gift back in the early 80’s. Some sort of Japanese Steel that takes and holds an edge like nothing else I ever used. My newest is a Benchmade Griptilian, and it has good Steel, but still can’t match up with the Browning.

The Bokers, Pumas, Bucks, Camillus, Gerbers, and others are in a drawer.

It's nice to get a gift.

It is, and there have been many times that i’ve Thoughtto have one of you talented fellows make me a special knife. The problem is that I don’t really know what I want, so I watch what you fellow show on the forum -hoping for inspiration.

I can't speak speak for other sources of Damascus especially the imported stuff but the Alabama Damascus billets that I use are composed to 5160, 52100, 15N20 and a small percentage of 203N just for contrast. The three primary steels all have an optimal heat treating temp of 1525° which is what I use in my oven. I use light mineral oil to quench Damascus and then check each and every blade on a Rockwell hardness tester and then temper at temps ranging from 375° to 425° to achieve a final hardness of 59 to 60 HRC. I check every blade both after hardening and after tempering to assure that each blade is the best that I can produce.
A knife maker should be able to tell you exactly how hard a blade is instead of just giving you a range of what it could be.

As mentioned previously: Every steel, including 5160, 52100, 15N20 and 203N has an optimal heat treating regime that consists of more than just a shared critical temperature. The time a specific steel is exposed to a specific temperature during ramp up and soak is important. And, it is therefore not possible to observe the optimal heat treating regime for different steels in the same blade.

In the final analysis, Damascus steel is used for reasons that are unrelated to performance or utility.

It is also worth noting that there is much more to heat treating than achieving a specific Rockwell Hardness. I doubt any real world knife user could distinguish + or - 5 Rockwell points during actual use of the tool.

Damascus blades are sought after for their performance and utility as well as their cool look! Damascus will form a micro serrated edge with use - even when too dull to cut, with movement it will still cut even thin paper (see youtube video on smoky mountain knives featuring Brad Vice owner of Alabama Damascus Steel)

They are also valued for their ability to withstand impacts that would break single steels - when Alabama Damascus was tested by swordmaker Wes Hibben (Gill Hibben's son) he found he was not able to break it

As far as heat treating it's no prob - it has more to do with retained austenite, and then there is pearlite (not the beer!) and other edge killing formations so the same blades treated by diff makers will perform differently depending on the makers ability.

As far as not being able to tell the diff between a knife at 55HRC and 60HRC you must be doing it wrong! I sure can and quickly!

It's wrong to make broad statements like all Damascus because not all Damascus is the same - especially when you use things like car bumpers and shipping containers to make it! (Pakistani)

Your position regarding optimal heat treating of different steels simultaneously is not tenable. Compromises are made when heat treating any blade composed of different steels. A "broad statement" which applies to logic can always be made.

Dog Gone It! I was wondering why I wasn't getting beer out of em.

BTW Brad Vice is a great guy to deal with, even his Vice Cutlery is a great product for the money, better prices than that import junk made out of God knows what.